


Between the Three of Us

by angelwing (orphan_account)



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Claustrophobia, Fluff without Plot, M/M, OT3, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Universe Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2018-03-10 14:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3293891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/angelwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kieren, Rick, and Simon are planning to spend the night together for the first time, and Kieren is an anxious wreck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the Three of Us

**Author's Note:**

> This literally has no AU behind it it's just straight up fluff without plot. Like, I don't know how Rick's alive. I don't. I just really really really love these three together and I wanted to write a oneshot about them so this happened. I love these three so much tbh you don't understand om g..
> 
> ALSO their ship name is ri/s/en how great is that holy hell. A perfect ship name for a perfect ship.

It was the first time the three of them had ever spent the night together, and Kieren was a mess. He had been anxious all night - really, he’d been anxious since they had first brought it up - but now that it was actually _happening_ , he felt just about ready to explode.

But it would be fine, he forced himself to think. Rick and Simon both loved him a lot. And he loved them a lot. Everything would be fine. He was being ridiculous and worrying about absolutely nothing.

Currently, they were watching television. Kieren was okay with that. Hell, he loved it. Between the three of them, they could make any movie, no matter how shitty, fun to watch. Kieren’s sarcastic responses to bad dialogue, paired with Rick’s almost painfully silly jokes, paired with Simon’s ability to notice _every single inconsistency in the entire film_ , made them the ultimate team when it came to movie commentary.

And Kieren didn’t have to think about his anxiety. He could sit between Rick and Simon, listen to them talk, watch the movie, and force any sort of negative thought or emotion away.

But time passed, as it always does, and soon it was late into the night. As the credits rolled on the screen, Rick stood first, stretching and cracking his knuckles. “Well, that was shit.” He laughed. Simon muttered something under his breath about accidental unreliable narrators as he stood too. Kieren remained where he sat, eyes fixated on the television, watching vacantly as the text scrolled down the screen.

Rick gave Kieren a gentle kick to the leg. “Oi, Ren, you plan on sleeping on the couch tonight?” He nodded towards Simon. “If Si’s bed is as needlessly clean as the rest of the bungalow I think you’ll prefer that.” There was a hint of suggestion to his tone, but all three were aware that nothing _intimate_ would be happening tonight. Well, nothing more intimate than cuddling. Not that that eased Kieren’s nerves at all.

“Yeah, sorry,” Kieren muttered quietly, only vaguely aware of Simon’s hand taking his own and gently pulling him up, to his feet. He looked between his two boyfriends and forced a smile. “Sorry,” he said again. “Just… thinking about how shit that movie was is all.” He gave a laugh.

Rick laughed too. “Don’t sound entirely sincere there, Ren. Am I sensing a guilty pleasure?” He grinned at Simon, as if hoping that he’d impressed him by teasing the other, but instead he was greeted with a frown.

Simon placed a hand on Kieren’s shoulder. The younger boy furrowed his brow, and Simon spoke. “Are you worried about doing this? You don’t have to, you know.” he said. “Neither of us are trying to push you into something you’re not ready for.”

If there was still blood in his body, Kieren would have blushed terribly at that. “No, no, I’m fine, Simon.” he assured him weakly. “I promise. I just…” He shook his head. “I have some things on my mind is all. Nothing important, I’ll be fine.” And he would be, he told himself almost stubbornly. He would be fine. He had nothing to worry about. Rick and Simon both loved him. He was okay. “Let’s, er… I guess we should get to bed, huh?”

It was with that that the three went off to Simon’s room. Considering the fact that it was Simon’s bed, he lay down first, and Kieren followed next. Snuggling against Simon was comfortable and easy. He loved the way he felt against his body, and even if they couldn’t feel heat anymore, the sense memory had Kieren certain he could feel a sort of warmth between him and Simon as they snuggled up together.

This would be fine. He had nothing to worry about.

Rick seemed hesitant at first, as if it was just now occurring to him that cuddling with two dead guys in bed might be compromising his masculinity. But he seemed to fight down his own hesitation to eventually lay down as well, and Kieren shifted a bit to move closer to him. Rick’s body he knew _well_. Not in a sexual sense, or even a particularly romantic one. Rather, he recognized Rick’s body from years of sleepovers and late-night get togethers, watching TV and giggling over school drama and gossipping about shit they shouldn’t have been old enough to know about. Kieren breathed a little sigh of relief.

This would be okay.

He was grateful for the space between Rick and Simon. He wasn’t being pressed into by either of them. Rather, he had plenty of room to lay on his own, with each of them by his side. This was good. He could move around comfortably, but still feel their presence. He liked this. It wasn’t nearly as scary as he had expected.

Rick spoke now, voice quiet. “Well, er… g’night, then?”

“Mm, good night,” Simon’s accent was thicker now, tired and comfortable, and Kieren bit his lip as he smiled at the sound. Simon ran a hand through Kieren’s hair, then kept his fingers resting gently on the side of his head.

Rick chuckled. “In the morning, we should go tell Sue ‘nd Steve about us.”

“They know I’m with you two!” Kieren said quickly, suddenly speaking up to keep that from going any further. “ _Sort of…_ ” He chuckled a little. “They know I’m spending the night out…”

“With your two boyfriends.”

“I didn’t _specify-_ ”

“All in favor of going over to Ren’s mum and dad’s house in the morning, s-”

“Knock it _off_ , Rick. It’s late.” Simon groaned from the other side of the bed, and Rick bit the inside of his cheek to attempt to stifle the chuckle that left him. Kieren rolled his eyes and shoved Rick, then turned to give Simon a kiss on the cheek, as if to thank him for stopping that conversation before it had too much of a chance to start.

Simon smiled a bit at that and opened a single sleepy eye, before reaching out to gently tug Kieren closer. “Both of you, sleep. Alright? We’ll decide what we do in the morning _in the morning_.”

Kieren decided to listen to Simon’s advice. He wanted to get this night over with, honestly. So far, things had been easier than expected. Now he just had to get through it. Closing his eyes, he reached out, gently running a hand over Simon’s shoulder before shifting a bit closer to Rick, making sure both of them were close to him. Rick threw an arm over Kieren, squeezing him a bit, and he found himself smiling as he began to drift off to sleep.

xxx

It was dark.

Kieren didn’t remember where he was.

Shifting around just a bit, he found himself stuck. He tried to move and he found himself pressed between something. He was stuck. His breathing grew quick, eyes opening instantly. It was so dark. Where was he? He looked around, breathing becoming rapid.

_You’re trapped._

Kieren shook his head. No, no, he wasn’t. He wasn’t. He bit down hard on his lip, no longer able to feel the pain that the action should have caused, and shook his head again. No, he was…

Simon and Rick. The names came to him in a rush of relief and he clung to them desperately. He was with Simon and Rick. He was with Simon and Rick. He was-

_trapped._

But he wasn’t. Kieren shook his head again, and began to push. He wasn’t sure what he was pushing on. He let out a sound between a sob and a whine, his breathing too quick and shallow for him to get much sound out between ragged gasps. _Fuck._ Where was he? (Simon? Was Simon here?) Where was he? What was happening? (Rick was around here somewhere, right?) What was going on?!

_You can’t get out. You can’t get out you can’t get out youcantgetoutyoucantgetoutyoucantgetout._

Kieren didn’t even realize he was screaming. He didn’t realize that he was no longer trapped. He was only vaguely aware of the hands on his face, gently stroking his cheeks, brushing hair from his eyes. He heard voices, worried and hushed, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. His body was trembling almost violently and he let out a sob, reaching for something to hold.

Someone pulled him into a hug, and he eagerly collapsed into the arms, not caring who it was. Someone was still touching his hair and face, and he felt a kiss pressed to the top of his head. No one said a word. Kieren had nothing to say. He continued to tremble, breathing shallow and weak.

Finally, a voice broke through the silence with, “Y’okay, Ren?”

Kieren opened his eyes and looked down. He was laying on top of Rick. He blinked, looking into the other’s face, and bit his lip, immediately sitting up so that he was now straddling him. “I’m sorry, I- I don’t know, I just… I…”

Simon took his hand in his own, squeezing it. “Did something happen?”

“N- No. I mean, you didn’t do anything, I’m sorry, I-”

“Quit apologizing, Ren. We aren’t mad or anything. Just worried. What happened to ya?” Rick interrupted him, sitting up too now and shoving Kieren off of him in a playful way. Kieren sat in front of both of his boyfriends now, looking a bit like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide, embarrassed and nervous and still recovering from the panic attack he had just had.

Simon squeezed his hand again. “Kieren, _please_.”

A soft breath left Kieren. “I felt trapped.” he said quietly. “And I…” He looked between both of them again, wishing they could just magically understand. His eyes finally landed on Simon, and he stared almost pleadingly. “You know I’m claustrophobic, right? I told you that, yeah?”

Simon shook his head. “No, you never mentioned that.” But he did understand now. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to Kieren’s cheek, then moved up, lips brushing over the side of his eye, where there were still tears. “You’re okay now, yeah?”

“Y- Yeah. I just… woke up… and it was like I was buried again. Like I was trapped in the dark. Couldn’t move or anything, just-” He shivered and let out a weak sob, reaching for Rick again, burying his face in his shoulder as the other boy moved closer. He mumbled out another apology, and Rick didn’t have the heart to reprimand him this time.

Simon was rubbing Kieren’s back. “It’s okay,” he promised. “You can go home if you want? We could walk you over there. I’m sure Jem would help you sneak in without waking your parents.”

But Kieren shook his head. “No, I want… I want to spend the night here. I’m not letting myself ruin this.” He sat up again, pulling away from Rick and looking between him and Simon once more. “We can’t sleep like that, though. Not yet. I need to be able to move about at night.” He went quiet, thinking for a moment, before giving Simon a small smile.

“Rick, lay down next to me,” Simon said, laying down once more and motioning for Rick to do the same. He raised a brow but did as told, laying down on his back close to Simon, their shoulders touching. Simon looked to Kieren now. “Come here,”

Kieren bit his lip again, looking down at the two awkwardly from where he sat up on the bed, before crawling over. He looked at both of his boyfriends again, and then, with just a bit of hesitation, lay down on top of both of them, snuggling up on them and resting his head on Rick’s shoulder again. Simon’s hand had moved to play with his hair once more.

“Better?” Simon asked now. “You can move around, and you still get both of us. Yeah?” His hand moved lower and he rubbed Kieren’s back gently. “If you start to feel trapped, you can roll off of us and to the side at any time. No feeling trapped.”

Rick grinned. “Yeah! Try to get back to sleep, ‘kay, Ren? You’ll feel dead in the morning if you don’t get enough sleep.” And his wording was clearly intentional, for he quickly followed this up with, “I mean, not that getting enough sleep will bring you back from the dead or anything, don’t get your hopes up.” He laughed, and Kieren rolled his eyes.

“He’s not wrong, though.” Simon said, in a tone that suggested that he was simultaneously trying to comfort Kieren and apologize for Rick’s behavior at the same time. “I mean, you should try to sleep.” He sat up just enough to kiss Kieren’s shoulder. “If something happens again, we’re both here, okay?”

Kieren smiled a bit, taking in a deep breath. His breathing had evened out now and he was no longer trembling, although he still felt a bit shaken up. “Okay,” he agreed, eyes closing. He could do this, he told himself. He wasn’t trapped. He was safe. Everything was going to be okay. Simon and Rick were both here for him, and everything was going to be okay.

-end


End file.
